Core Mobile has created a new app to address mobile game discovery, now live on iOS and Android and coming soon to Amazon Fire and Apple TV. “Core” is a video-based app that enables players to easily get everything they need directly from their smartphones (i.e. game discovery and notifications when streamers are online). The CEO of Core Mobile was formerly a VP at Machinima. (VentureBeat)

Ludacris has launched a new mobile word game called “Slang N’ Friendz” for iOS and Android. In this “Scrabble”-like game, you can play traditional words as well as slang from any culture around the world – the game’s dictionary has nearly 10,000 words. The goal is to get around the frustration of not being able to play familiar words in games. (VentureBeat)

Gaming News

Facebook Live will broadcast this year’s “Heroes of the Dorm” eSports tournament instead of ESPN. Based around “Heroes of the Storm,” this tournament features college teams competing to win free tuition. After two years of airing on ESPN, every match of 2017’s competition will instead be live streamed exclusively from the game’s Facebook page. Blizzard stated that this will help “enhance” each match, allowing the company to create easily shareable clips and interact more closely with its fans. (Engadget)

“League of Legends” is heading to the Big Ten Network as a collegiate eSport. The season just kicked off, with one match per week streaming on Riot’s website and the Big Ten Network’s website and app. The champion will compete in Riot’s own “LoL” College Championship, which features the top four college teams in North America. The full-time students who compete in the new eSports league will each receive $5,000 scholarships. (Mashable)

India is getting its first major eSports league: UCypher. While competitive gaming is massively popular in southeast Asia, it’s only begun to catch on in the Indian subcontinent over the past couple of years. The tournament will feature 10 teams battling it out over two seasons each year on PC, console and mobile games. There is an investment of $15 million earmarked for the venture. (The Next Web)

Former Rovio employees want to use gaming to help kids learn particle physics. Mobile gaming startup Lightneer’s first game, “Big Bang Legends,” attempts to familiarize children as young as four with particle physics by building the concepts directly into its “invisible learning” structure rather than traditional modules and tests. The game quickly topped the educational category in the Finnish app store after its December debut, and will come to more countries this spring. (Bloomberg)

Business News

The Dallas Cowboys, the NFL’s most valuable team, are considering a move into eSports. It’s chosen a marketing agency called Epsilon to help determine whether they will buy an eSports team. Epsilon recently launched a new practice, Data Design, to show which brands associate with eSports and could relate to the team’s fan base. Other professional sports teams, coaches and players have already invested in eSports, but the Cowboys could become the first NFL organization to purchase an eSports team. (Business Insider)

Riot Games broadcasters are no longer banned from monetizing their streams. This includes enabling paid subscribers via the Twitch Partnership program and accepting donations from stream viewers, but they can’t sponsors or paid advertisements. Previously, contracts restricted Riot Games casters from becoming partnered streamers and accepting donations. (Yahoo! Sports)

Hamburg’s Goodgame Studios is laying off another 200 employees. The cuts are part of the plan to refocus the business on core games. Management blamed the layoffs on the increasingly difficult free-to-play business sector. This marks a sharp turn in the company’s fortunes, which had shown significant revenue growth in 2014/15 and doubled its headcount as a result. (GamesIndustry.biz)

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